The "Middle East and Terrorism" Blog was created in order to supply information about the implication of Arab countries and Iran in terrorism all over the world. Most of the articles in the blog are the result of objective scientific research or articles written by senior journalists.

From the Ethics of the Fathers: "He [Rabbi Tarfon] used to say, it is not incumbent upon you to complete the task, but you are not exempt from undertaking it."

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Brooklyn College Political Science Department Denies Equal Free Speech and Academic Freedom to Pro-Israel Students and Faculty

by Alan M. DershowitzThe international campaign to delegitimize Israel by subjecting the
Jewish state—and the Jewish State alone—to boycott, divestment and
sanctions (BDS) has now come to the most unlikely of places: Brooklyn
College. The political science department of that college has voted to
co-sponsor a campaign event at which only pro-BDS speakers will advocate
a policy that is so extreme that even the Palestinian Authority rejects
it.

The poster for the BDS event specifically says that the event is
being "endorsed by…the political science department at BC." The BDS
campaign accuses Israel of "Apartheid" and advocates the blacklisting of
Jewish Israeli academics, which is probably illegal and certainly
immoral. The two speakers at the event deny Israel's right to exist,
compare Israel to the Nazis and praise terrorist groups such as Hamas
and Hezbollah.

The president of Brooklyn College claims that this co-sponsorship
does not constitute an endorsement by the college and that this is an
issue of freedom of speech and academic freedom. But when a department
of a university officially co-sponsors and endorses an event advocating
BDS against Israel, and refuses to co-sponsor and endorse an event
opposing such BDS, that does constitute an official endorsement. Freedom
of speech, and academic freedom require equal access to both
sides of a controversy, not official sponsorship and endorsement of one
side over the other. The heavy thumb of an academic department should
not be placed on the scale, if the marketplace of ideas is to remain
equally accessible to all sides of a controversy.

I have no problem with a BDS campaign being conducted by radical
students at Brooklyn College or anywhere else. Students have a right to
promote immoral causes on college campuses. Nor do I have a problem with
such an event being sponsored by the usual hard left, anti-Israel and
anti-American groups, such as some of those that are co-sponsoring this
event. My sole objection is to the official sponsorship and endorsement
of BDS by an official department of a public (or for that matter
private) college.

I was once a student at Brooklyn College, majoring in political
science. Back in the day, departments did not take official positions on
controversial political issues. They certainly didn't sponsor or
endorse the kind of hate speech that can be expected at this event, if
the history of the speakers is any guide. The president of the
university says this is a matter of academic freedom. But who's academic
freedom? Do "departments"—as distinguished from individual faculty
members—really have the right of academic freedom? Does the political
science department at Brooklyn College represent only its hard left
faculty? What about the academic freedom of faculty members who do not
support the official position of the department? One Brooklyn College
faculty member has correctly observed that:

[B]oycotting academics is the opposite of free speech. It symbolizes the silencing on people based on their race and religion.

Does the political science department not also represent the students
who major in or take courses in that subject? I know that as a student I
would not want to be associated with a department that officially
supported boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel. My academic
freedom would be compromised by such an association. Also, I would worry
that a department that was so anti-Israel would grade me down or refuse
me recommendations if I were perceived to be pro-Israel, or even
neutral. I would not feel comfortable expressing my academic freedom in
such a department. I'm sure there are many students at Brooklyn College
who feel the same. What can they do to express their academic freedom?
Should they fight fire with fire by advocating boycott, divestment and
sanctions against the political science department or against Brooklyn
College? Would that too be an exercise of academic freedom?

If I were a Brooklyn College student today and an opponent of BDS
against Israel, I would not major in political science. I would worry
that my chances of getting into a good law school or graduate program
would be put at risk. I would pick a department—or a school—that was
less politicized and more academically unbiased.

Academic freedom does not include the power of department or faculty
members to proselytize and propagandize captive students whose grades
and future depend on faculty evaluations. That's why academic
departments should not take political positions that threaten the
academic freedom of dissenting students or faculty.

I can understand the department of political science sponsoring a
genuine debate over boycott, divestment and sanctions in which all sides
were equally represented. That might be an educational experience
worthy of departmental sponsorship. But the event in question is pure
propaganda and one-sided political advocacy. There is nothing academic
about it. Would the political science department of Brooklyn College
sponsor and endorse an anti-divestment evening? Would they sponsor and
endorse me, a graduate of that department, to present my perspective to
their students? Would they sponsor a radical, pro-settlement, Israeli
extremist to propagandize their students? Who gave the department the
authority to decide, as a department, which side to support in this
highly contentious debate? What are the implications of such
departmental support? Could the political science department now vote to
offer courses advocating BDS against Israel and grading students based
on their support for the department's position? Should other departments
now be lobbied to support BDS against China, Venezuela, Cuba, Russia,
the Palestinian Authority or other perennial violators of human rights?

Based on my knowledge of the Brooklyn College political science
department, they would never vote to sponsor and endorse an anti-BDS
campaign, or a BDS campaign against left wing, Islamic, anti-Israel or
anti-American countries that are genuine violators of human rights.
Universities, and some departments in particular, are quickly becoming
more political than academic. This trend threatens the academic freedom
of dissenting students and faculty. It also threatens the academic
quality of such institutions.

The Brooklyn College political science department should get out of
the business of sponsoring and endorsing one-sided political propaganda
and should stop trying to exercise undue influence over the free
marketplace of ideas. That is the real violation of academic freedom and freedom of speech.

Shame on the Brooklyn College political science department for
falsely invoking academic freedom and freedom of speech to deny equal
freedoms to those who disagree with its extremist politics.Alan M. DershowitzSource: http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3565/brooklyn-college-political-scienceCopyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.